Drugs

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

Since Lisa brought the subject up , I'll post a message
I wrote in the course of a private conversation. It was
slightly polemical, but I was provoked !

Adam.


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>From adam Thu Nov 30 09:03:31 1995
To: xxx
Subject: Re: Urgent message!
Cc: yyy zzzz
Content-Length: 3040


I am in favour of the legalisation of all drugs :
crack, heroin, cocaine, acid, speed, cannabic, extacy and
anything else you can think of.

Why ? Because I am a drug crazed lunatic ? Of course not.

i) Which drugs are legal and which aren't is nothing to
do with safety, addiction or whatever. It's to do with profits.
Alchohol is addictive and harmful, as is Nicotine via
Tobacco. Cannabis is not addictive and very much less harmful.
Alchohol is legal because drinks companies make millions from
it, Cannabis would  threaten both the drinks industry and the
Tobacco industry.

Valium ( a popular tranquiliser ) is prescribed on epidemic
proportions for similar, commericial reasons.

Personally, I drink large amounts of coffee all through the
working day in order to stay awake.

If you are in favour of banning crack, heroin, cocaine, acid,
speed, cannabic, extacy you should also be in favour of
banning Valium, Tobacco, Alchohol, and Caffeine. If you are
not, you're just siding with some powerful capitalists
( drug, alchohol, tobacco companies ) against some less
powerful ones ( drug dealers ).


ii)     Prohibition does not stop the problem.

Why do people take drugs of any sort ( ie crack, heroin,
cocaine, acid, speed, cannabic, extacy and Valium, Tobacco,
Alchohol, Caffeine ) ? It's because Capitalism puts them
under pressures which would be unbearable otherwise. You can
ban them or not, as long as Capitalism exists people will look
for an escape route. If the drugs above are not available,
people will use glue, nail varnish or home brewed spirits.
( In the West Country in the UK, there's a long tradition
of Brain damage from scrumpy, a sort of home brewed cider ).
The prohibition of alchohol in the US is an obvious example
of this argument. Did civilisation in the US collapse as
a result of scrapping prohibition ?  Would you have supported
prohibition ? If not, why not ?

If you want to stop addiction, change the conditions that create
it ( put me on a thirty hour week and I'll stop drinking coffee ).

iii) Practicalities.

People die because the drugs are illegal and therefore aren't taken
under circumstances which minimise their harmful effects. Heroin
is mixed with dangerous substances. Water isn't available in clubs
where E is taken. The girl who died recently couldn't go to her GP
and say "It's my 18th birthday soon - I'm going to take some E.
Could you test to see if I'm allergic to it ?" because it's
illegal. She died not because of some evil pusher but because
of official hypocrisy.

iv) Politics.

There's all sort of shit in our society. The Tories know this
and try to blame it on scapegoats. One week it's single parent,
last week it's drug pushers, this week it's immigrants. By agreeing
with them that the problem is drug pushers, you allow them
to escape blame for the problems their system creates.

Adam.





































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